Get Xiaomi Recommendations: What It Is and How to Manage Notifications

Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO smartphone owners often face a situation where messages from the Recommendations system service appear on a locked screen or in the notification panel, which is part of the MIUI proprietary shell and the new HyperOS, designed to personalize the user experience. However, for many users, such pop-ups become a source of irritation, as they can overlap useful information or simply interfere with it.

In this article, we will discuss in detail what this system process is responsible for, why it is activated by default and whether it should be turned off. You will learn how to distinguish system offers from advertising debris and how to customize the device for yourself. Understanding these mechanisms will allow you to make using your smartphone cleaner and safer.

Many people confuse the standard recommendations with viruses or malware. In fact, it is a legitimate part of the Android operating system with an add-on installed from the manufacturer. However, the intrusiveness of advertising in some regions is really high. We will look at all aspects of the service so that you can make an informed decision.

The essence of the system service recommendations

Get Recommendations is a built-in analytics and personalization module that collects data about your smartphone usage habits to offer relevant content, such as tips for setting up a device you just bought, suggestions for installing useful apps from the GetApps store, or reminders of features you rarely use.

Technically, this process is closely linked to the system applications msa (MIUI System Ads) and daemon, which are responsible for downloading ad units and analytics. In recent firmware versions, Xiaomi is trying to balance the monetization of budget devices and user comfort, so completely removing this component without loss of warranty is difficult, but limit its impact is quite feasible.

It's important to understand that having this service is not a critical vulnerability, and it's standard practice for many electronics manufacturers to reduce the final cost of gadgets, but if you're concerned about privacy or just annoyed by visual noise, you can flexibly customize the functionality.

Where do the notifications appear?

Users often wonder where exactly the information comes from, and recommendations can be integrated into various interface elements of the shell, most often found in a screen blocker called Wallpaper Carousel at Xiaomi, instead of a static picture, the system can display banner ads or tips.

Notifications can also come in the curtain of status bars, especially after a system update or initial setup of the phone, and in some cases, suggestions to install games or apps appear in the Tools folder or in the Security system application.

• 📱 Screen locker: Advertising slides when the device wakes up.
• 🔔 Notification panel: pop-up messages from the service MSA.
• 📂 Folders and desktop: recommendations for installing applications in folders.
• ⚙️ Settings: suggestions to optimize the system or clear the memory.

The app Security is a very important tool, and it's the one that often sends you cache cleaners, sometimes accompanied by ad units, and it's one of the most common channels for communication between the system and the user.

Risk analysis: Advertising or virus?

Data security is a concern for many. Is the service a threat? No, from a viral perspective. It's not a Trojan or a spyware in the classical sense. But from a digital hygiene perspective, telemetry and behavioral data collection always carries some risk of leaking user preferences.

⚠️ Warning: If notifications come from an unknown application with a strange name other than system services, or contain a request to transfer money, this is a sign of a real virus.

The main risk is not to break the phone, but to impose unnecessary services and traffic. In the background, the service can consume the resources of the processor and batteries to download content.

In addition, accidentally clicking on a banner can lead to a switch to a phishing site or installing unwanted software (AdWare), so even regular recommendations require careful attention, especially if the phone is used by children or elderly people who may not distinguish between system notifications and external advertising.

Instructions to disable personalization

If you decide that you don't need personalization, you can turn it off through system settings, and it won't delete the service completely, but it will stop targeting data collection, and the process may vary slightly depending on the version of MIUI or HyperOS.

To start, go to Settings → Passwords & Security → Privacy. You should find the Advertising Services section (or Special Advertising Opportunities in older versions) and switch to Get References to Off. The system will warn you that this may affect some features.

Next, check your Mi Account settings. Go to Settings → Mi Account → System About (or Ads & Privacy) and make sure that any sliders related to personalization and user experience improvement are deactivated, which will prevent the transfer of application usage data to the company’s servers.

Separately, you should mention the settings for each program installed. The Privacy menu often has a list of apps that use ads. Go through the list and turn off personalization for each of them, especially for system ones: Explorer, Music, Video and Cleanup.

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Before you turn off your ads globally, take a screenshot of your current privacy settings, and if you reset or have a system problem, it can help you quickly restore your configuration.

Blocking through MSA application settings

Deeper customization is possible through direct control of the msa process. This method allows you to deny the application access to the Internet, which effectively blocks the loading of advertising modules. However, be careful: in some regions, disabling MSA can lead to the disappearance of widgets or disrupt the work of the theme.

To find hidden settings, open Settings → Apps → All apps. In the upper right corner, click on three dots and select "Show System Processes." In the list, find msa or MIUI Daemon.

When you go inside, select "Other permissions" or "Data Use" where you can disable Wi-Fi and mobile Internet connection, and it's also useful to disable autostart and background for this process.

After settings are applied, it is recommended to restart the device, which is necessary in order for the changes to take effect and system processes to restart with new security parameters.

System Component Removal (ADB Method)

For advanced users who want to get rid of intrusive services completely, there is a USB debugging method that requires a computer connection and the use of the ADB (Android Debug Bridge) toolkit, which is effective but requires caution.

First, activate the developer mode. Go to Settings → About Phone and quickly click on MIUI 7 times. Then, in the Advanced Settings menu, turn on "Debugging on USB." Connect the phone to your PC and enter a command to delete the package:

adb shell pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.miui.msa.global

This command will remove the user part of the advertising service without touching the system partition, allowing you to return everything back to factory reset, and you can also remove the analytics service and the statistics service stat.

⚠️ Note: Removing system packages through ADB If you are not sure about your actions, use the lock method through the permission settings described in the previous section.

So you may have to do it again, and some system applications may stop displaying content correctly if the services they depend on are removed.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

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Competent setting of privacy parameters allows you to completely get rid of intrusive recommendations, while maintaining the stability of the Xiaomi operating system.